Tesla’s Optimus robot VP is reportedly leaving the company

Milan Kovac, the vice president leading Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot program, is reportedly leaving the company, according to Bloomberg News. Kovac, who has been with Tesla for nearly a decade and previously worked as a top engineer on the Autopilot team, was appointed to lead the Optimus development in 2022 and became VP of the program in late 2024. He was responsible for driving the engineering teams behind both Optimus and the shared software infrastructure with Autopilot. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has ambitious plans for the Optimus robot, projecting that “thousands” of units will be operating in Tesla factories by the end of 2025, with a rapid scale-up to millions of units per year as soon as possible. Following Kovac’s departure, Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s vice president of AI software, will take over leadership of the Optimus project. This leadership change comes amid Tesla’s aggressive push to advance its humanoid robot technology and integrate it into its manufacturing operations.